Global File System (GFS)

Definition - What does Global File System (GFS) mean?

A global file system (GFS), in computer science, is cluster of files that are shared between a number of computers and end systems from which data or services are accessed, stored and fetched. The computer systems may be physically distant or may be a part of same network.

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Techopedia explains Global File System (GFS)

GFS is especially useful when the physical location of two or more computers are located in distant locations and they cannot directly share a file or group of files. A global file system saves the changes made by one system and displays the changes on all the systems sharing it. It is the same as a distributed file system, except that the nodes have direct access to the data. A GFS reads and writes to the remote device, similarly to a local file system, and also permits the computers to organize their I/O to preserve file system uniformity.